Thames Valley infrastructure problems causing disruption elsewhere - 2017

[whole diary]

[TonyK]

I know this is very technical but why don't they make something like this public instead of the usual we're really sorry this has happened waffle? Explain what's going wrong to your passengers and what's being done to fix it.

By now, DafT should have announced an independent inquiry into the whole shoot-bang-works. I assume they are waiting for the problems to be solved before doing that, so it can find that there were problems, but they're in the past.

[Electric train]

I know this is very technical but why don't they make something like this public instead of the usual we're really sorry this has happened waffle? Explain what's going wrong to your passengers and what's being done to fix it.

By now, DafT should have announced an independent inquiry into the whole shoot-bang-works. I assume they are waiting for the problems to be solved before doing that, so it can find that there were problems, but they're in the past.

The DfT^» (Department for Transport - about) or probably the ORR^» (Office of Rail and Road formerly Office of Rail Regulation - about) will be in contact with the Network Rail (NR^» (Network Rail - home page)) Route, its more likely that the Network Rail (NR) team would have contacted the ORR and said "Huston we have a problem" Network Rail (NR) would give their understanding of the issue and what NR are doing about it also that they are working with the TOC^▸ (Train Operating Company)'s FOC^▸ (Freight Operating Company) to manage the impact.

My experience of this type of event is the failure is dealt with at the time, the full understanding of the event and failure and what the long term resolution is to prevent future occurrences is usually a few weeks may be months later as it can take time to analyse all the data perhaps model it and then it a technical solution is needed this may need to be run thought a safety review and then trialled.

Short answer is I expect they know what it is, what's caused it but the thing that may take time is how fix it so it don't happen again   

Edit: VickiS - Clarifying Acronym

[broadgage]

....apparently no news on a Void day until next week, how long can it take to decide that there was "....serious, extended disruption during a morning or evening peak period and when no reasonable alternative such as rail replacement service has been provided...."

Of course there was a reasonable alternative ! wait until the next day !
And such is the generous nature of GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) that they even announced that tickets could be used the next day, what more could one ask

[johoare]

With almost perfect timing today one of the advertising flyers that the postman brought me today was from GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) telling me all the wonderful places I can go (or not as the case was earlier this week) on their services.. Consigned to the recycle bin already

[charles_uk]

....apparently no news on a Void day until next week, how long can it take to decide that there was "....serious, extended disruption during a morning or evening peak period and when no reasonable alternative such as rail replacement service has been provided...."

And yes, I am repeating myself, but passengers... sorry customers on the Cotswold Line had no morning peak service to speak of either with the 04:50 Hereford blocking the line at Charlbury for two hours - with no reasonable alternative being provided.

The GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) website says "if we think our performance falls below an acceptable level during a peak period, we’ll declare the day ‘void’". Are GWR seriously still considering whether Thursday's performance was "acceptable" or not?

[a-driver]

....apparently no news on a Void day until next week, how long can it take to decide that there was "....serious, extended disruption during a morning or evening peak period and when no reasonable alternative such as rail replacement service has been provided...."

The GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) website says "if we think our performance falls below an acceptable level during a peak period, we’ll declare the day ‘void’". Are GWR seriously still considering whether Thursday's performance was "acceptable" or not?

Patience. Good things comes to those who wait and all that. You never know, there might be some surprises that are currently being finalised.

[TaplowGreen]

....apparently no news on a Void day until next week, how long can it take to decide that there was "....serious, extended disruption during a morning or evening peak period and when no reasonable alternative such as rail replacement service has been provided...."

The GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) website says "if we think our performance falls below an acceptable level during a peak period, we’ll declare the day ‘void’". Are GWR seriously still considering whether Thursday's performance was "acceptable" or not?

Patience. Good things comes to those who wait and all that. You never know, there might be some surprises that are currently being finalised.

Wow really? Sounds great!.....signals that work? Trains with working aircon and something approaching sufficient capacity that don't break down every 5 minutes and aren't constantly short formed? An industry that doesn't treat its most important stakeholders as inconvenient freight? A railway that doesn't melt down faster than ice cream when  it gets warm? A business that has a contingency plan for its customers when things go wrong?

Any of those would be a fantastic surprise! Manana Manana?

[ChrisB]

Network Rail (NR^» (Network Rail - home page)) are out if their depth and have brought in the manufacturers - Siemens and another as no one in Network Rail (NR) understands the data problem. Bring back mechanical signals, bloody IT

Edit: VickiS - Clarifying Acronym

[charles_uk]

....apparently no news on a Void day until next week, how long can it take to decide that there was "....serious, extended disruption during a morning or evening peak period and when no reasonable alternative such as rail replacement service has been provided...."

The GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) website says "if we think our performance falls below an acceptable level during a peak period, we’ll declare the day ‘void’". Are GWR seriously still considering whether Thursday's performance was "acceptable" or not?

Patience. Good things comes to those who wait and all that. You never know, there might be some surprises that are currently being finalised.

I think there's a certain level of cynicism towards GWR's reluctance to declare void days. I appreciate they can cost money and should be for exceptional events, but having realised the levels of disruption caused by the derailment last July and the exploding pigeon were acceptable, passengers do wonder how bad things have to be before they become unacceptable.

If there's something being finalised then great, but perhaps a holding statement from GWR might have helped quell some of the current frustrations.

[a-driver]

NR^» (Network Rail - home page) are out if their depth and have brought in the manufacturers - Siemens and another as no one in NR understands the data problem. Bring back mechanical signals, bloody IT

If the government keep on slashing the budget of NR and then in turn NR have to keep cutting their costs then this situation will keep on arising.  Pay them a decent wage and keep the experience to keep the network runnin smoothly. Everything is done on the cheap and it will keep coming back to bite them on the rear end. This is what will happen with a fully nationalised railway.   

TaplowGreen you won't get any of that when the government is involved.

[TaplowGreen]

NR^» (Network Rail - home page) are out if their depth and have brought in the manufacturers - Siemens and another as no one in NR understands the data problem. Bring back mechanical signals, bloody IT

If the government keep on slashing the budget of NR and then in turn NR have to keep cutting their costs then this situation will keep on arising.  Pay them a decent wage and keep the experience to keep the network runnin smoothly. Everything is done on the cheap and it will keep coming back to bite them on the rear end. This is what will happen with a fully nationalised railway.   

TaplowGreen you won't get any of that when the government is involved.

Slashing the budget? What happened to the £7.5 billion that was going to be "Building a Greater West"?

Hopelessly delayed and overspent projects and not even the day to day is maintained properly.........doesn't sound like expertise and experience in action to me - sounds exactly like the public sector in action.

[a-driver]

NR^» (Network Rail - home page) are out if their depth and have brought in the manufacturers - Siemens and another as no one in NR understands the data problem. Bring back mechanical signals, bloody IT

If the government keep on slashing the budget of NR and then in turn NR have to keep cutting their costs then this situation will keep on arising.  Pay them a decent wage and keep the experience to keep the network runnin smoothly. Everything is done on the cheap and it will keep coming back to bite them on the rear end. This is what will happen with a fully nationalised railway.   

TaplowGreen you won't get any of that when the government is involved.

Slashing the budget? What happened to the £7.5 billion that was going to be "Building a Greater West"?

Hopelessly delayed and overspent projects and not even the day to day is maintained properly.........doesn't sound like expertise and experience in action to me - sounds exactly like the public sector in action.

Just look how much debt Network Rail has. You've got people in the DfT^» (Department for Transport - about) with no experience in operating a railway trying to tell those that have.

[ChrisB]

wasn't it the EU^» (European Union - about) that demanded that NR^» (Network Rail - home page) become an agency with debt in the Government books. Then one small advantage of Brexit might mean it can go borrowing on its own...

[a-driver]

wasn't it the EU^» (European Union - about) that demanded that NR^» (Network Rail - home page) become an agency with debt in the Government books. Then one small advantage of Brexit might mean it can go borrowing on its own...

I think it was something like that.  My guess, let the debts mount up and then it'll be a prime candidate to privatise.

[Trowres]

wasn't it the EU^» (European Union - about) that demanded that NR^» (Network Rail - home page) become an agency with debt in the Government books. Then one small advantage of Brexit might mean it can go borrowing on its own...

https://www.gov.uk/government/speeches/ons-decision-on-the-classification-of-network-rail

Today (17 December 2013) the Office for National Statistics (ONS^» (Office for National Statistics - website)) announced that, following a review, Network Rail will be classified as a central government body in the public sector. This is an independent statistical decision taken by the Office for National Statistics in light of the European System of National Accounts 2010 (ESA10) manual from Eurostat which comes into force across the EU from 1 September 2014.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_System_of_Accounts

The European System of Accounts (ESA) is the system of national accounts and regional accounts used by members of the European Union. It was most recently updated in 2010 (ESA 2010).

The ESA 95 is fully consistent with the United Nations System of National Accounts (1993 SNA) in definitions, accounting rules and classifications.[1] However, it incorporates certain differences, particularly in its presentation, that are more in line with use within the European Union.

Whether or not "the EU demanded", it is debatable how much increase in NR's debt would be sustainable.